Among
Italians an identity far from complete, of language and literature,
combined with a geographical position which separates them by a
distinct line from other countries, and, perhaps more than
everything else, the possession of a common name, which makes them all
glory in the past achievements in arts, arms, politics, religious
primacy, science, and literature, of any who share the same
designation, give rise to an amount of national feeling in the
population which, though still imperfect, has been sufficient to
produce the great events now passing before us, notwithstanding a
great mixture of races, and although they have never, in either
ancient or modern history, been under the same government, except
while that government extended or was extending itself over the
greater part of the known world.
Where the sentiment of nationality exists in any force, there is a
prima facie case for uniting all the members of the nationality
under the same government, and a government to themselves apart.
This is merely saying that the question of government ought to be
decided by the governed. One hardly knows what any division of the
human race should be free to do if not to determine with which of
the various collective bodies of human beings they choose to associate
themselves.
But, when a people are ripe for free institutions, there is a
still more vital consideration.
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